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JULY 29, 2010: MPs Scorecard is a Welcome Move

MPs Scorecard is a Welcome Move

SOURCE: New Vision

Kampala — On Wednesday the Africa Leadership Institute (AFLI)
released a performance scorecard of our Members of Parliament. The
scorecard measured the contributions of MPs in the plenary, committees
and in their respective constituency.

In addition this time there was a peer review of the MPs by their
colleagues. This is AFLI's third scorecard in the last four years. Every
time the scorecard has been released, AFLI has come under a lot of
criticism.

To their credit there are improvements in the report with every
subsequent release.

Criticism has revolved around the emphasis on MPs' quantitative as
opposed to qualitative contribution, the omission of the Speaker and
deputy speakers contributions and the MPs role in monitoring government
expenditure.

The other criticism has been about the seemingly poor performance of
vocal MPs compared to the other more quiet MPs. Democracy is about
accountability.

The three arms of government - the executive, legislature and
judiciary at the top of this system are set up to check and complement
each other. But power belongs to the people and all these institutions
are accountable to us.

The AFLI report is, therefore, a very important tool for furthering
democracy in this country in as far as it holds our MPs accountable.

One of the many concerns about the report is that the MPs' opponents
were copying it around the constituency as a way to undermine them. This
is a very positive development. Every five years MPs comb the country
promising heaven on earth, win seats and are safe in the knowledge they
will not be held accountable for another five years.

This report can change things, by, one, holding MPs to their roles
and, two, increasing civic education because the role of the MP will
have to be universally explained so that they are not penalised by the
population for not fulfilling roles that are not their mandate.

The AFLI report is a good thing and with continued improvement can
only strengthen our democracy.